


Not All that Dragons Desire is Gold

by Light_It_On_Fire



Series: His Hoard [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Dark Sides have an animal form, Deceit is a classy mf, Fluff, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mutual Pining, Octopus, Snakes, Stealing, Sympathetic Dark Sides (Sanders Sides), secrets being revealed without permission, shapeshifter AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-06
Updated: 2020-03-06
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:46:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23044222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Light_It_On_Fire/pseuds/Light_It_On_Fire
Summary: All Dark Sides have an animal counterpart they can shapeshift into at will. None of the Light Sides know what Virgil’s animal form is. Luckily for Roman's curiosity, it won't be long until they find out
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Deceit Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders/Deceit Sanders, Creativity | Roman & Logic | Logan & Morality | Patton
Series: His Hoard [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1667188
Comments: 5
Kudos: 247





	Not All that Dragons Desire is Gold

“A bat?”

“No.”

“A cat?”

“No.”

“A raccoon?”

“What? No, Roman, I’m not part raccoon.”

“A Spider?” Patton whimpered from where he lay coloring on the floor, eyes wide at the thought of his dark strange son being part spider. At the shake of Virgil’s head, he returned to his coloring page, relieved. Virgil wouldn’t lie to them! At least about something this important! Maybe about what he had gotten them for their birthdays, or whether he had eaten the last cookie, but it just wasn’t his nature to lie about the important things. 

However, he was very good at slipping out of uncomfortable conversations. Like this one.

Using Patton’s interruption to the stream of questioning, Virgil had sunk out, likely to hide in his room for the rest of the day. Patton frowned at the thought of him all alone. He would bring him some cookies later! That would cheer him up!

“Come on, kiddos, Virgil will tell us when he’s ready, it’s his secret to tell!”

Roman groaned from where he sat on the couch, his list of possible animal counterparts sat in front of him. “Patton! You know he’ll never tell us, though! He’ll chicken out before telling us.” He perked up, scribbling chicken down on his list.

Logan nodded. “I agree with Roman, for once,” He ignored Roman’s ‘hey!’ in the background, and continued. “Virgil has a history of overthinking, and convincing himself that it’s better to not say anything at all, instead of telling us what he wanted to.” 

Patton frowned. “Be that as it may, my- our dark little shadowling deserves to come out about this in his own time.” Patton flushes at the raised eyebrow from both Roman and Logan, and sends them a look that says _“As if you two aren’t just as bad?”_ And looked pointedly towards the snake lying around Logan’s neck. Then he continues, trying to make sure to get his point across. “Even if he’s never ready, okay?” Seeing Roman’s pout and Logan’s disappointed look, he leveled them with his patented ‘Dad Look.’ 

Both of them groaned but agreed to let it go. 

It wasn’t a secret that all of the “Dark Sides” had animal counterparts. 

What that counterpart was was blatantly obvious for both Deceit and Remus. Deceit was a snake, and Remus was an octopus. The scales and tentacles gave that away rather quickly, and neither made any attempt to hide their animal transformations.

It wasn't unusual to find a yellow ball python curled up on one of the other's shoulders or to find a green octopus clinging to the side of a disgruntled, but resigned Roman’s head. 

It also wasn’t a secret that Virgil was a dark side. 

Regardless of that, Patton, Logan, and Roman were all in the dark about what animal Virgil was.

There were no physical traits, at least that they could see, and no extreme behavioral traits made themselves obvious, like Deceit’s heat-seeking tendencies.

Even now, Deceit was curled up around Logan’s arm, soaking in the warmth. He had said that Logan was his favorite to soak in heat from, because the nerd had a tendency to sit relatively still for hours while he worked, while Roman and Patton were much more active. This allowed Deceit to nap in a safe, comfortable place for hours. His second favorite place to nap was Roman, as he claimed he was the warmest out of all the sides. (If you asked Remus, He would say that Deceit just had a crush on the two of them, but Deceit had threatened him into not spilling the not-so-secret-secret.)

Right now though, he was managing to look unimpressed with the three of them, without even having eyelids. He slithered off Logan’s arm, onto the couch next to him. 

In a soft glow of yellow, the scaled side was sitting in front of him, nestled in the small space between Logan and Roman, but looking not at all disturbed by the lack of personal space. 

Patton sent Roman and Logan another look at their flustered expressions that said: “ _What did I just say?”_ Deceit looked slightly disheveled from his time as a snake. With purposeful and graceful movements, he straightened out his caplette and shifted his bowler hat so it was straight once more upon his head. 

After he had finished un-ruffing himself, he stared reproachfully at Roman and Logan. “Patton is right, you know. You should let him tell you when he’s ready. An animal counterpart is a sensitive topic for us. Just letting someone see us transformed is a sign of trust, not to mention letting them touch us.”

Patton almost would have laughed at the realization and redness in Logan and Roman’s faces, but he was too busy worrying. “Does that mean my little shadowling doesn’t trust me?” 

Deceit shot him a smirk at the second slip up, ignoring the other two who were practically fawning over him. “I’m sure he does trust you, but you know how nervous he is. It took him years for him to tell me, let alone let me see his animal form.”

Roman seemed to drag himself out of his twitterpated state at that comment. “That’s right, you know what his counterpart is-!”

Deceit pushed Roman's face away from where it was nearly pressed up against him. “No. And If you ask Remus, he won’t tell you either. Patton was right. It’s for Virgil to decide.”

Roman pouted, logan looking rather disappointed as well. “Can’t you tell us something?” Both of them aimed a perfect puppy-dog look at Deceit. Patton could practically see the moment that Deceit caved. 

“Fine,” He huffed, “One hint. Virgil doesn't have any physical attributes like Remus and I. All of his are behavioral.”

This prompted Logan to turn back to his own notebook, scribbling away. Roman sighed disappointedly, obviously hoping for something more.

After that, all three of them returned to their activities from before. Deceit turned back into a snake, this time curling up around Roman’s arm, resting his head on his shoulder. Roman had gone bright red as he remembered what Deceit had said about being allowed to touch a Dark Side in animal form. 

——

Meanwhile, in Virgil’s room, behind a firmly closed and locked door, a tiny being was scurrying around under Virgil’s bed. 

A tiny snout about poked its way out from under the blanket that lay over the edge of Virgil’s bed, conveniently hiding the underneath of his bed, and tiny eyes surveyed the room critically. The animal chirped, offended, not finding anything to satisfy him in the room. 

He turned back and disappeared underneath his bed. The underneath had fairy lights strung along the bottom of the bed frame, put there by his human self, which he could switch on and off by stepping on a little switch. 

The fairy lights illuminated what else lay under his bed. A soft purple Christmas sweater lay in a little pile. Next to it lay a handmade card from Patton, and an empty gift card for audiobooks from Logan. He also had a half-filled notebook that smelled like Logan, an old faded bowler hat that smelled like Deceit, and two ripped up sashes that smelled like Roman and Remus respectively. 

One scent was missing from his little space though. 

Patton. Patton was his favorite smell, like fresh baked cookies and cinnamon. It made Virgil happy. Unfortunately, Virgil hadn’t been able to get anything from Patton yet. He never threw out or lost anything that Virgil could grab to put on the tiny hoard under his bed. 

Virgil huffed, unhappy. He didn’t like resorting to stealing from the other sides, but a gift that he could put into this little pile where few and far between, besides from Deceit and Remus. They knew what his animal was, and knew the behaviors that came along with it, and were happy to provide. It didn’t have to be anything big or glamorous, he would be satisfied with old clothing they were going to throw out, but since the other three didn’t know, they had no reason to give him anything, did they? 

The small creature huffed, coming to a conclusion. 

If they didn’t give him anything for his precious little collection, he would just have to do it himself! He did it before with Roman’s sash and Logan’s notebook. He was going to find something to put in here from Patton if it was the last thing he did! 

His mind in this state didn’t register any of the anxieties he would normally feel about creeping around in the middle of the day in this form. If he wanted something that smelled like Patton, then he was going to get something that smelled like Patton. 

All he had to do was make sure that no one saw him, and that would be easy, right? 

Right!

First Step: Make it out of his room. That was going to be hard since he didn’t have hands, the door was shut and locked, and he didn't feel like shifting back into a human…

The creature sat and pondered the question of how to get out for a while, then snorted at himself. He could just sink out! He still held that ability in the form.

Next Step: Locate something that belonged to Patton that he wouldn’t miss. 

He popped up in Patton's room, under the moral side’s bed, to make sure that the side wasn’t there before he ventured out into the room. Listening carefully, he listened for the typical humming that usually filled the room if Patton was in it, but didn’t hear anything. Not even any soft breathing. So he happily trotted out to find something he could keep.

~~~

Patton hummed, looking up from his drawing to the clock. It had been about an hour since Virgil slipped out of the room. He should get started with those cookies if he wanted them done in time as to not ruin Virgil’s appetite for dinner tonight! 

He hopped up, gathered up his crayons, and skipped over to the kitchen. He deposited his belongings on the dinner table. He also shrugged off his cardigan, laying it over the back of a chair. He knew from experience that it got kind of hot in the kitchen when he was cooking or baking, so he had taken to taking off the sweater tied around his shoulder whenever he would go about making food 

~~~

If Virgil could pout while he was in this form, he probably would be doing so right now. He couldn’t find anything good enough in Patton’s room. Patton's room was meticulously messy. It seemed like an oxymoron, but Virgil thought it applied. Stuffed animals, blankets, and things from Thomas’ childhood were piled and shoved haphazardly into the closet and onto shelves. But if you asked Patton to produce anything from his mess of a room, he would have it for you in less than a minute. If you moved or took anything from his room, he seemed to know almost immediately. So Virgil couldn’t just take anything from the bottom of one of the piles and be done with it. He had to find something the Patton wouldn't miss. 

And that was much harder than Virgil thought it would be. Patton was Morality, but one of his other big roles was Thomas’ nostalgia. He wouldn’t forget about the bedraggled stuffed dog Thomas’ got for his fifth birthday, or the drawing Thomas’ younger cousin made for him three years ago. 

So he wouldn't find anything good in Patton’s room. Fine. He would just have to check the kitchen. Patton spent a lot of time there! Surely he could find something there?

He sank out and reappeared under the dining table this time. He could hear Patton's signature humming coming from where he could see Patton’s sock clad feet moving around at the kitchen counter. He could also hear scribbling from the living room. It sounded too frantic to be Logan’s calm writing. Roman then. 

He hesitated. He could get caught, but…

Damn it, he wanted something from Patton! Slowly he surveyed his surroundings. Maybe Patton had dropped an apron or oven mitt on the floor he could snag? 

No such luck. However, he did see something very intriguing hanging on the back of the chair to the left of him. 

~~~

After a while, Patton had made a batch of Virgil’s favorite shortbread cookies, a loaf of banana bread with chocolate chips, an angel food cake, and a batch of gingersnaps (Logan’s favorite.) 

He took a step back to look at his creations and giggled. Maybe he had baked a bit more than he had meant to? Oh, well, that meant it would just last longer! 

Patton leaned to look out into the living room. It was only Roman sitting there now, Logan having left to his room a while ago. “Roman?” He called. When he was sure he had Roman’s attention, he continued. “Would you go grab Virgil from his room while I frost this cake?” When Roman stood to do as asked of him, Patton called out admonishingly. “And no badgering the shadowling about his animal form, alright, kiddo?” Hearing Roman answering accepting groan, Patton turned to pick up his cardigan to slip over his shoulders again. 

Only to find it missing. Weird… He was sure he left it here. Oh well, it would turn up again soon, he was sure. 

~~~~

Roman huffed as he slouched his way up the stairs. Why couldn’t Patton go get the Dark and Stormy Knight himself? He had been busy! And he couldn’t even bother Virgil about his animal form (which he was still desperately curious about) to make up for it. 

Sure, he had only been thinking up ideas on how to woo his two loves, (while also brainstorming ideas on how to get Patton and Virgil to confess to eachother), but Roman thought that was much more important than fetching a sulking emo! 

He reached Virgil’s door and knocked loudly. “Emo Nightmare! Patton told me to come get you!” When he heard no reply, he made an offended noise. How dare that little Oatmeal Raisin Cookie ignore him? He called out again. ”Virgil? Don’t ignore me!” Still not receiving an answer, he huffed again. “Look, if you're still mad about before, I‘m sorry, alright? It’s just my nature to be curious!” The door offered no response. 

Now Roman was starting to get worried. Normally, when Roman was trying to get him to leave his room, Virgil would have replied by now, even if it was to tell him to go away. 

“Look, Virgil, I’m coming in, alright?” Upon getting nothing out of the other side, Roman tried the silver handle on Virgil’s door. Finding it locked, he furrowed his brow. Even more worried now, he used his power over the mindscape to unlock the door. Opening it, and slowly walking into the room, he was puzzled to find no one there. He was sure that Virgil had come to his room after leaving the conversation earlier. There didn’t seem to be any indication the Virgil had been in there at all. The bed was still made, his desk neat with his computer laying powered off and closed on it. 

Concerned, he felt out with his magic, attempting to feel Virgil’s aura. It was sort of when he was summoning Virgil. He would send out his own aura until it bumped against the aura of the person he was trying to find or summon. If he was summoning them, he could either gently nudge them, or grab ahold of them and yank them to where he was physically. It really depended on how generous he was feeling to the side in question at the time. 

For now, though, he was just attempting to find the Storm Cloud’s stormy purple aura.

He didn’t need to search far before he felt the cloudy aura. He blinked puzzled. It felt as if Virgil was laying on the bed, but there was no one there? He walked closer, still feeling Virgil’s aura until it felt like he was right on top of Virgil. He was still nowhere to be found. He felt around the bed, thinking maybe Virgil was hidden under the mounds of blankets or pillows? 

A fleeting thought crossed his mind that perhaps Virgil’s animal form was a small bug or the like, but dismissed it. It wouldn’t fit with Virgil's theme, and Roman was nothing if not Thomas’ creativity, and he knew that Thomas would not make Virgil anything as insignificant as a bud bug.

Suddenly, Roman heard a small choked chirp-like sound from under Virgil’s bed. 

Roman was rather forcefully reminded that Virgil was Anxiety, and had a predisposition to shoving himself into small spaces when he had an anxiety attack. Was Virgil having a panic attack? Did he set one off earlier this afternoon with his prying? 

Roman quickly slid down to the ground, lifting the bed sheet to peek underneath them.

Slowly, he leaned back up. He had been prepared for a panicking Virgil, maybe even seeing Virgil who had decided that falling asleep under his bed was a good idea. 

What he was not expecting was a dragon.

A Dragon. 

A baby dragon?? He blinked raising the blanket again. Yep, that sure did look like a baby dragon. Huh. Roman was confused. The only dragons there should be in the mindscape were the ones he created, and he certainly didn’t remember creating any recently, much less a baby one. 

The realization that he thought it was a baby dragon hiding underneath Virgil’s bed that somehow must have snuck out of the imagination struck him, and he nearly laughed at his blatant and ridiculous assumption. They had literally been having a conversation about this only a few hours ago. 

“I mean really,” Roman thought. “It’s a mini purple dragon with black marks under his eyes. How obvious could it get.” The tiny beast was curled up, surrounded by objects belonging to the other sides. Roman recognized one of his old sashes he had torn while fighting Remus, that he hadn't bothered to fix, and then it went missing one day. He hadn't thought much of it then, but now, it was obvious what had happened. 

This was really just too cute. He had to show this to Logan and Patton. Patton especially. Virgil was even cuter than normal, and Patton was going to flip out. And was that Patton's cardigan Virgil was curled up in? Oh goodness, gracious. 

He flung out his aura haphazardly, poking first at Logan, who was sitting at a desk in his room. Logan’s aura pushed him away gently. He was busy. Well, too bad. 

Roman grabbed on to one of the trailing tendrils of Logan’s aura and yanked, summoning a disgruntled Logan into the middle of Virgil’s room. While Logan was getting his bearings, Roman reached out to the kitchen, giving Patton a nudge. Unlike Logan, Patton promptly responded, rising up with a smile.

The smile on Patton’s face and the scowl on Logan’s slid off their faces when they realized where they were, and the Roman was kneeling by Virgil's bed with Virgil nowhere in sight. 

Logan opened his mouth to question Roman, but Roman held up a finger to his lips shushing him. 

He gestured for the two of them to kneel next to him, and when they did, he once again lifted the blanket to reveal the little hideaway that Virgil had created. 

He could watch the same confusion and then recognition that he went through flicker over their faces. 

Logan looked thoughtful, nodding his head, and mumbling something about thematics, and Roman had to agree. Being a dragon fit Virgil quite well. He was protective and fierce, and if fighting dragons taught him anything, ridiculously stubborn about anything they set their minds to. 

Just like Virgil.

The small stature of the creature toned down the fierceness a bit, though.

Patton was just staring at the sleeping form with his hand clenched over his mouth, shaking slightly. Roman exchange uncertain glances with Logan.

He reached out a tentative arm, resting a hand on Patton's shoulder. “Pat, are you okay?” Patton couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from the adorable sight in front of him. He only responded to Roman with a high pitched, squeaky, and strangled sound. 

This seemed to be what Virgil needed to be dragged from his sleep, slowing waking. He didn’t seem to be aware of them sitting so close to him, so his awakening was slow and calm. His slow ascent from the depths of his sleep gave Patton plenty of time to get over his infatuation with Virgil’s form, (for now) and wave the other two off. 

They went without complaint. (Mostly. Logan had to drag Roman along with him, no doubt going to question his endlessly on what he had discovered.) Virgil waking up to find all of them staring at him wouldn’t turn out well. He had been so anxious about keeping this hidden, the three of them finding out was most likely going to make him panic.

Virgil yawned, finally waking enough to push himself up to his feet. His back was facing Patton, and he knew that the small, adorable, cute, perfect little creature still didn’t know he was there. He watched as the tiny dragon stretched out in his little nest that was made out of both Virgil’s Christmas sweater and Patton’s cardigan. Oh, goodness, he can’t handle this. Patton felt tears well up in his eyes from just how cute he was. And- 

Oh. _My. God._

Virgil had started kneading at the soft fabric beneath him. He was like a little kitten!!!

Patton wasn't sure how to alert him to his presence without freaking him out. It turned out that it wouldn’t be an issue, Virgil taking in the scents around him in a big open-mouthed sniff. He obviously caught on to the strong scents of the other sides that hadn’t been in his room when he went to sleep. He went stiff, making Patton stifle a giggle, which Virgil no doubt heard anyways. 

Virgil slowly turned, his ears pinned back, looking for all the world like a kicked puppy. The two stared at each other for a moment, neither quite knowing what to do next. In a puff of purple smoke, quite unlike the glow of Deceit’s transformation, the tiny dragon was no more. Once more a human Virgil was before him, still awkwardly crouching under the bed. 

Patton backed away from him, allowing him room to crawl up from under the bed. The two sat across from each other on Virgil’s floor, still unsure how to proceed. 

“So… Roman and Logan saw too?” Virgil quietly questioned. 

Patton hummed, giving a small nod. Virgil sighed, slouching even further, tugging his hood up further to cover his face.

He reached back under his bed, withdrawing Patton’s cardigan, handing it back with such reluctance that Patton almost smiled. Virgil ducked his head as he passed it back to Patton. “I’m sorry.” 

Patton startled at Virgil's apology. “What are you sorry for? You didn’t do anything wrong!”

Virgil sighed. “I mean… I made such a big fuss about keeping it hidden, and It’s not even that big of a deal.”

Patton frowned. “Of course it’s a big deal! If you didn’t want to tell us then you shouldn’t have been forced to. I’m going to be having some stern words with Roman, alright? It wasn’ appropriate for him to summon us to see you like that.”

Virgil groaned. “But my form is so stupid looking. A dragon would be fine, but a dragon that size? It just looks ridiculous.”

“Awww, no it didn’t!” Patton exclaimed. “You were adorable!” 

“Aaaaand, there it is,” Virgil grumbled, rolling his eyes, clearly unhappy with Patton’s description. Despite his grumbles, though, some of the tension in his shoulder seemed to ease, the atmosphere in the room growing lighter. 

Patton tilted his head, confused, but pleased that Virgil seemed to be feeling less shy. Patton would almost call the expression Virgil was wearing a smile.

Adorable. Patton kind of wanted to kiss the look off his face.

_What?_

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are appreciated!  
> I'm also on tumblr [@light-it-on-fire](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/light-it-on-fire)  
> My writing blog is [@sanders-sides-snippets-n-stories](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/sanders-sides-snippets-n-stories)  
> My asks are always open, and Anon is turned on, come scream at me!


End file.
